Avid Education AMER Summit – 2018
This past August, scores of Avid Certified Instructors and Avid Learning Partners gathered on Stage 12 of one of the most historic movie studios Sunset Gower in Hollywood, CA for the second annual, Avid Learning Partner Summit of the Americas. This two-day conference drew attendees from all over California plus 12 other states, as well as Canada, Mexico, and Colombia.
The conference was the high-point between two weeks packed full of Avid Certified Instructor (ACI) classes, run on the campuses of UCLA and Mount Saint Mary’s University, who also hosted the weekend event.
In what could be dubbed our Show-Me-the-Money session, Sean Glumace, co-founder of the Certification & Career Pathways Readiness Group, detailed the process and resources schools can use to access the wealth of funding available for CTE programs (Career Technical Education), and some of the issues that can tie up funding even after its been approved.
A large portion of the weekend this year featured voices from outside the company, a departure from the Avid-only agendas of previous years. The morning kicked off with a panel discussion by industry experts on why Avid skills are critical for their work, and for students looking to land a job in the industry.
Since the release of Media Composer | First in June of this year, the use of Media Composer | First in the classroom has been a hot topic of discussion. Antonio Manriquez of Hollywood High, was on the beta program for ‘First’ and is planning to get the under-classman in his program started on First, while upper-classman will go on to Media Composer proper. Antonio presented a session on the opportunities (and challenges) of teaching Media Composer | First in high school and shared his plans for incorporating it into his program. Tag-teaming with Antonio from the audio side of the house was Eric Kuehnl, professor of audio engineering at Foothill College. Eric, who recently co-authored a book on Pro Tools | First (published through Hal Leonard), laid out clearly the differences between Pro Tools and Pro Tools | First, and what that means for teachers who want to have students working on First outside the classroom. One way teachers can do this is through the new cloud collaboration features in Pro Tools 12.8.x, through which students can share their First projects with the teacher running Pro Tools.
Day One wrapped with a much-needed reception and casual networking over all-you-can-eat tacos, an open bar and an outstanding jazz quartet. As if that wasn’t enough, Kelby Thwaits, Director of Mount Saint Mary University’s graduate film program, jumped on the mic and serenaded us with the classics!
